Trying to buy PS5 has been an absolute nightmare for hundreds of thousands of gamers all around the world, with the PlayStation 5 shortages meaning that many are now staring down the barrel of a no-console-to-play-at-Christmas gun.
Between Sony blindsiding gamers by initiating PS5 pre-orders without any warning, to greedy scalpers using AI notification services and reseller bots to trouser thousands of consoles, and onto retailer indifference and technical fiascos, it's been a torrid time as of late for gamers, which is why this latest PS5 restock news is so depressing.
That's because, as evidenced by TikTok user @adorablemiah's video, which was recently posted on the social media platform, employees at a Walmart store appear to have been caught trying to buy up the entire store's PS5 restock of consoles before actual customers even had a chance.
The entire TikTok video can be watched directly below:
@adorablemiah Waited outside since 3:30am. when they finally let us in we found employees ringing themselves up the 4 ps5 they had. #walmartps5 #ps5 #walmart
♬ original sound - 312339
Miah's attached comments to the video state that:
'Waited outside since 3:30am. when they finally let us in we found employees ringing themselves up the 4 ps5 they had.'
While on the video itself these words are pinned:
'Caught employees at walmart buying the PS5 before people went in. First in line and show up to them already trying to buy them and leave before we got there. We stopped them from leaving with all of them but they still sold to two of them to their employee and only sold to the first two in line. They only had 4'
So, of the 4 consoles made available by Walmart, if Miah and her fellow gamers hadn't turned up in time all of them would of been bagged by Walmart employees, and even after they did confront the staff, still only two consoles were actually sold to customers who had been waiting in line since 3:30am.
This news is incredibly disappointing if true, but not at all surprising considering some of the behaviour we've seen reported over the past month. Here we have another pitifully small PS5 restock (4 consoles!) made available, and then before actual gamers can even get chance to ring them up, they're all attempted to be pocketed.
At least two of the gamers who had waited in line got a console after witnessing the behaviour, but everyone else did not, and once more the idea that you can simply buy a PS5 has been made a mockery of.
Frustrating doesn't even cut it. Here's hoping that a lot more Sony PlayStation 5 consoles are made available in the new year, and that actual gamers can fairly purchase them at RRP.
Until then, though, it looks like gamers will have one more crack at picking up a PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition before Christmas as more consoles have been slated as incoming today in both the USA and UK.
In the UK Argos, Asda, Tesco, Currys, John Lewis, Amazon and Game are expected to get more consoles, while in the USA Walmart, Best Buy, Target and GameStop are tipped for PlayStation 5 stock.
Elsewhere, the biggest PC game launch in history, Cyberpunk 2077, is having a harder time of it on console, with the PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game coming in for some flak due to poor performance and crashes.
Which is especially a shame considering that the PS5 and Xbox Series X special edition Cyberpunk 2077 consoles are really something special indeed.
